On the 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th and 8th Nights of Hanukka

Posting every night was getting overwhelming, especially since each night mostly added to the Lite Sprites set. I'm back with a combined update and a special video, featuring Princess!

Princess received the entire Lite Sprite collection for Hanukka.

From our cousins and aunt in PA, she received a Monster Fashion Sketch Portfolio. We all know how much Princess loves fashion design!

More Lite Sprite Pets...

And every Princess needs a castle!

Along with eight $1 bills, which went directly into the iPad fund. Have I mentioned that Princess is saving to buy herself an iPad? She has been working very hard at earning and saving for a long time.

She got the Tree of Lite

and her daddy. Yes, the Lizard King was home for the weekend. That's about the best present ever!

On the last night of Hanukka, Princess got a special surprise in her Hanukka gelt wall hanging. Her aunt, the Duchess, put $20 in the last pocket. Princess could hardly believe it! She is only $26 away from her iPad and so excited!!

Princess did a lot of research before deciding she wanted the Lite Sprites. She found lots of people doing videos about them and knew that she wanted to make a video of her own. Enjoy!

On the third night of Hanukka...

Princess got the final two sprites!

Meet Brooke and Astra!

Freckles and her kids came over for us all to exchange gifts and play. I, of course, didn't bring my camera out at all and have no photos. Grrrrrr..... Princess got a deck of Pokemon cards (yes, she is still into Pokemon big time and I love to play the game, too!) and an apron to sew for her and her American Girl doll.

Princess and Blue Eyed Boy played. Freckles, Toothless Fairy and I all sat around talking. It was a lovely day. But then, any time I get to spend with Freckles is lovely. I got some very awesome gifts, too...but no photos. Maybe next time! See you all tomorrow. : )

On the first day (and second night) of Hanukka

Santa came and left a Barbie I Can Be Pizza Chef. See! Santa does come on the first day of Hanukka. We figure it makes his job easier, since he can deliver to all the Jewish kids on a different day than everyone else. ; )

And on the second night of Hanukka, we continued with the Lite Sprites theme, welcoming Meadow and Bleak to the fold. Meadow is the green sprite and Bleak is the black one. Bleak is the mischievous one of the group. She's a color stealer!

A friend of the Duchess came over with her almost 4 year old son to light candles with us. They gave this to Princess. Isn't that cool?! We're planning to do our creation this weekend with the Lizard King.

After candles and presents we rushed out to a very festive Solstice party. It was a very fun time!

Can you guess what tonight's gifts might bring? Ooh! And Freckles is coming over with her kids today for a playdate and gift exchange. What a fun time of year this is!! So much celebration!

On the first night of Hanukka

Princess spent almost every moment of the day talking about and jumping up and down (literally) with excitement about the first night of Hanukka.

More than anything (well, except an iPad) she wants the entire Lite Sprites set. For the first night of Hanukka she got the wand and . . .

. . . a sprite named Prisma.

From her aunt, the Duchess, she got the Lite Sprite pets.

Her grandparents sent a Knot-a-Quilt. She thinks it's really cool!

From her Aunt & Uncle in Pittsburgh, she got some pink bangle bracelets, a pink shirt and pink sweatshirt. Something tells me they know Princess' favorite color. She loves everything, of course!

And each night, Princess gets Hanukka gelt. For the first night she got 1 quarter. Tomorrow she'll get two, then three, all the way up to 8 quarters on the eighth night. Are you sensing the pattern? ; )

The cash will go into Princess' iPad fund. She's been saving like crazy!

What will tomorrow bring?

Happy Holidays!

I am absolutely the worst holiday card sender on the face of the earth. Every year I have the best of intentions. Truly I do! But intentions don't get it done. This year, I thought I had it all figured out. I would design a card on Picnik (my favorite photo editing site) and send it out via email. All I needed was a great photo of our family to put into the card. That shouldn't be that hard, right? 

Well, LK started traveling for work and he's not really here that much. The photo never happened and the holidays are just around the corner. Still, I kept thinking about the card. So is it totally cheating to use this photo from last November?

Hanukkah starts tonight! Yippee!!

Santa 2011

I never believed in Santa. Growing up Jewish, it just wasn't part of our lives. I once met someone who was Jewish and believed in Santa. She grew up thinking that Santa hated the Jewish kids because she never got anything from him. I didn't want Princess thinking that, so at age three or four, when she brought up the Santa thing, I wanted her to know that Santa wasn't real. But when I told her, she looked at me as if I had lost my mind and told me that of course he was real! And so, Santa coming on the first day of Hanukka was born. We go to see Santa every year and she asks him for what she wants. We don't go to the mall often, so this is quite an event for us.

Santa was first on the list. Fortunately, we are able to go during the week so there isn't much of a line. As usual, Princess was super excited.

After leaving Santa, we happened upon a choir singing holiday songs. The coolest part? They finished the song they were singing and went right into a Hanukka song next. Princess' smile was ear to ear. She was so happy to hear them sing a Hanukka song!!

You may have noticed the countdown I've got up on the blog. Princess has one on her blog, too. She is beyond excited about Hanukka this year. Some of the new hot toys of the season are the Lite Sprites. Princess says that is all she wants for Hanukka from us this year. I wonder if she'll get them. The only sad part of the holiday is that the Lizard King won't be here most of the days. We are thankful for Skype, so at least he can participate in our candle lighting and present opening.

How about you? What are your traditions?

We did it again . . .

Yup. We went to the Children's Museum. This time they had a truly A M A Z I N G Lego display. Yes, this dragon is made entirely of Lego pieces.

These very impressive knights are made entirely of Lego pieces as well. As you can see, Freckles and I were quite enamored with these gentlemen.

Princess had a lot of fun designing a Lego castle, using the computer program on hand.

Princess wants to go back again. She just can't get enough of the place!

The Chair

The Lizard King wanted a chair so that he could have some space. You know, a little elbow room. Here he is sitting on his chair . . . with Princess and the royal dog. You knew it wouldn't work, too, didn't you?

Decorating the Winter Tree

This was the first year that I didn't do a thing to the tree. LK put it up and put the lights on. Princess put the snowflake on the top and put on all the ornaments.

She is getting so big and so grown up! How quickly time passes. Have you decorated yet?